Monday, April 18, 2016

CGCC Lends HELPing Hand to Habitat for Humanity

On Saturday, April 2nd Habitat for Humanity dedicated a brand new 2-story, 4-bedroom Chandler home that was built by Chandler-Gilbert Community College (CGCC) students, advisors and other volunteers over the previous four months. This enriching student experience was made possible by the CGCC HELP (Hands Enriching Lives Project) club and its partnership with the Southeast Valley Lutheran Coalition (SVLC) to provide student volunteers for their Habitat for Humanity house builds. This most recent home, located in downtown Chandler, is the sixth one that HELP has assisted the SVLC and Habitat for Humanity build since 2010.
“We do one home per year,” explained Tom Pearson, CGCC faculty member and HELP club advisor. “We start out with a cement slab and help build the house until it is complete. This was the first two-story house we have ever built, it took 16 weeks to construct and we were four weeks ahead of schedule,” he boasted proudly.

The dedication ceremony celebrated not only the completion of the house but the much-deserving family who will call it their home. Representing CGCC and the HELP club at the event were seven students: Tristian Garcia, Diamond Alvarado, Caleb McCance, Nadia Duckett, Rebecca Rivers, Rachel Torne, and Anthony Cicalese; three advisors: Diane Travers Shipman, Alexandra Cannell, and Tom Pearson. The chair of Business and Computing Studies Tom Foster and his wife also attended.

“The HELP club is very proud of its partnership with Southeast Valley Lutheran Coalition,” reflected Pearson. “It is a privilege to build houses for deserving families through Habitat for Humanity. This program is just one of many that the HELP club offers and we encourage students to get involved!”
Students get involved in the project first by joining the CGCC HELP club, then by joining the house build. For this build, 25 different CGCC students and three advisors participated on a weekly basis, following a construction schedule which assigns genuine house-building tasks from framing to roofing to drywall to paint.

For students who would like more information on the HELP club, they can attend one of the HELP club meetings which are held on Mondays from 2:00-3:00PM in SC 103-113. We also have a Facebook page: CGCC HELP Club.